


Travelers

by Enigel



Category: Stargate Atlantis, Traveler
Genre: Crossover, Episode: s04e05 Travelers, Fusion, M/M, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-25
Updated: 2007-12-25
Packaged: 2017-10-02 02:44:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enigel/pseuds/Enigel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A mash-up of the SGA episode Travelers and Traveler, because the idea just wouldn't let go - Will, Jay and Tyler are the ones who capture Sheppard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Travelers

**Author's Note:**

> Written for LithiumDoll in the Yuletide 2007 Challenge as an extra

Getting kidnapped and shoved into a small room for "interrogation" (John massaged his jaw and his fingers returned bloodied) was not what he'd expected as a conclusion to his routine trip to PX-whatever. At least he got to roleplay Mister Fantastic again. That was fun, he smiled to himself and then winced. Damn, that short guy could kick, and he'd sure given it his best try when the tall guy announced that they'd caught part of his transmission and found out his real name.

Then they'd taken blood from him and shoved him into a cell, guarded by a forcefield and by the nervous blond guy who'd done nothing of the capturing and interrogating parts. To be fair, the forcefield was doing the main job, while the young guy paced the room. John was getting dizzy just watching him go back and forth around the narrow space.

"Look, could you sit down for a minute? Shouldn't you be calmer, seeing as you're in a position of power and not me?"

The guy - he was going to have to name him Mac or Doc if this kept up - laughed nervously.

"What?"

"You're the guy with the gun, I'm the guy in the cell, your friends have me at their mercy. Position of power."

"Yeah, armed and dangerous, that's what most people think when they look at me." He shook his head nervously. "Will just wants me to keep an eye on you. Probably yell dramatically if the force field disengages or something."

"Look... I don't even know your name."

The blond looked at him suspiciously and Sheppard rolled his eyes.

"You don't even have to give me your real name, just something I can relate with. I'm John."

The other man hesitated for a moment, then said: "Tyler." He extended his hand out of reflex, then caught himself as John looked significantly at the force field between them, and shook his head. The blond strands fell around his face haphazardly. "Right," he said, the bitter smile seemingly plastered to his face. John tried to catch his gaze.

"I think you're a nice guy, Tyler. Why are you part of this kidnapping people affair?"

"That's a long story. And I'm not sure I want to tell it to you. I don't know you."

"Fair enough. Look, Tyler, why don't you calm down a little? I wouldn't want that gun to go off and ruin the whole thing just because you were nervous."

Tyler looked down, at the hand still clutching a pistol. He seemed genuinely surprised to find it there, and John wondered what ever had happened to change this peaceful man into a haggard fugitive.

Tyler directed the barrel to the floor, fumbled very slowly with it, then placed the gun carefully on the table and sat himself next to it.

"Happy now?"

"Well," drawled John. "'Happy' wouldn't exactly be my word of choice. Let's call it 'less worried about immediate accidental demise' and leave it at that."

Tyler's mouth quirked into a bitter smile, but this time it seemed genuinely amused rather than sour.

An hour later he was leaning against the wall next to John's cell and telling him all about this nice girl he'd met, one of the last times he'd been allowed on a supply trip, and the horrified face she'd made when she realized that he was "one of the two madmen from the Varell culling". After they'd made love, held hands and looked into each other's eyes "and all that stuff that's supposed to mean trust and understanding."

Jay, it seems, had been most displeased about his escapade, and shouted all sorts of things about compromising their safety and jeopardizing their position; Will had looked grimly at Tyler and then grounded him on the ship.

"So you'll understand why I'm getting a bit manic in here," Tyler said, poking the forcefield with his boot. The field sparkled and hissed, then rippled back into invisibility.

John understood, he really did. He sighed. He was getting rather manic himself, but he had to stay alert and Make A Plan.

* * *

John heard the footsteps in the corridor first and looked up. Tyler followed his gaze and stood up abruptly.

"Hey, Tyler," said Will. "How's it going?"

"We're making friends here. How are you?" Tyler looked pointedly at Jay and Will, and John was again surprised by how much anger the seemingly innocuous Tyler could pack up. "Did you know, Will, I barely met this guy two hours ago and I know more about him than I knew about you after two years?"

Will looked at Sheppard angrily, and John smiled a saintly smile.

"I know what you're trying to do, Sheppard."

"I'm trying to stay alive, and assess as much information as possible about a threatening situation I found myself unwillingly dragged into, against, if I may repeat myself, against my will."

"Yeah, sorry for ruining your plans for tonight, Sheppard. I have more important concerns, like the survival for me and my friends. Cooperate and we'll return you right where we picked you up from, no harm done."

Jay placed himself placatingly between Will and John.

"Look, Sheppard, I know this is not fair. What happened to us was not fair either, and two wrongs don't make a right, and all that. All we're asking is that you help us with this ship, and then we'll be out of your hair."

Tyler laughed.

"You should listen to them, John. You have very pretty hair."

Will looked at Tyler as if he'd lost his mind, and Jay scowled. John recovered first.

"Thanks," he said, and smiled earnestly at Tyler, which deepened Jay's scowl. No reason to leave a compliment without reply. Especially when you can piss off somebody with it.

* * *

"For God's sake, stop acting like you're some kind of special agent! This is relevant to the situation."

Will looked at him suspiciously, lips pursed, and John supposed he was going to start another round of avoidance questions. Then Will spoke.

"I used to work with the Genii."

John sucked in a breath.

"Of course," he said. "I knew the friendly interrogation techniques felt familiar."

"I'm not one of them!" Will said angrily. "I thought they were the good option at the time."

"Yeah, many alliances seem like a good idea at the time," muttered John, "then end up as mill stones hung to your neck. So, were you proposing an alliance?"

"The Varell people were good friends and allies. Just like the Genii, they were hiding their real technological level from the Wraith. I don't know why, but the Genii made it look like we betrayed them to the Wraith." Will looked him coldly in the eyes. "Thousands were culled."

John shivered. Tyler was looking somewhere in space, sad and haggard. Jay's jaws were clenched so tight it must have hurt.

After a respectful moment, John returned to the matters at hand.

"So, where do I come in?"

"We want to offer them the Ancestors' ship, so they can join us before the Wraith return to finish their civilization for good and turn them into cattle! _That_'s where you come in."

* * *

Launching an unfiltered broadcast for help may not, in retrospect, have been one of the best moves he'd ever made, but it was not, John still maintained, such a terrible idea in itself. It was just his luck that in a Wraith-infested galaxy it was a Wraith ship that picked up the signal first. It was only the outcome - namely, the presence of three Wraith on board - that made it a really, really bad idea. In retrospect.

"Come and get me!" shouted Tyler while running along the brightly lit corridor. The light threw strange shadows on his gaunt face.

John got two of the Wraith with the superweapon, and was just beginning to ask himself the relevant question - where was the third? when Tyler shrieked in surprise, nothing like the yell when John had flown the ship without activating the inertial dampeners. This was a shriek of pure horror.

"Tyler!" yelled John.

Then the shriek faded, and that scared John more than anything else.

"Tyler!" he heard Jay shout.

One more turn and there he was. No matter how many people maimed by the Wraith he saw, he could never get used to it. He figured that if that ever happened, he'd know he was dead inside.

The Wraith was no longer there, but the presence of its damage was sharp and terrible.

"Tyler! No!"

"Stop it, Jay, there's nothing we can do."

Will's face was grim, but resigned.

Jay looked up, and there were honest tears on his face, surprise and hurt and anger all jumbled together.

Sheppard's jaw set in angry determination.

"Yes, there is. But you have to be pretty determined about it, and to have some guts."

He was addressing Jay directly, and Jay didn't disappoint him.

"What can I do?" he asked.

"Jay, wait a second, how can you trust this guy?"

"He knows these creatures better, Will. He's a soldier. And he knows saving Tyler would put him on my good side."

"Do you think I don't want to help Tyler, Jay? But our scientists have been trying for centuries to undo the Wraith damage..."

"Only Wraith can undo their own damage," interrupted John. "They can give back what they took. He won't do it willingly, but he will if we threaten him, and the sooner the better."

"I'm with you." Jay looked him in the eyes, and Sheppard knew it was true. Jay's priority right now was Tyler, and he wondered again what changed these two nice boys, who could have easily passed for frat boys in any college on Earth, into intergalactic pirates. Will was something different, and John didn't like leaving him on his own, but he had no choice.

"No."

"Will..."

"Let me finish, Jay." Will sounded tired. "I'll go with Sheppard, we have a better chance at capturing that thing. You stay will Tyler. Take this," he handed him one of the powerful weapons John wished he had, "in case it returns here first, or if there's more of them."

So Will didn't want to leave him alone with Jay, rather than using the time for plots of his own. Fine. It worked out better in the end.

* * *

"Tyler!" shouted Jay, this time with hope in his voice. "Are you okay?"

John let himself sink to the floor. Wraith-hunting. Can drain the life out of a guy. Convincing the Wraith that they'd let him go if he returned Tyler's life was made a bit more difficult by the fact that he wasn't convinced himself that they'd let him go. He felt like killing him just out of spite, and Jay seemed to agree emphatically, but in the end they reluctantly agreed that spreading the idea that humans could keep their word might prove useful sometime. While there is life, there is hope, right? John thought to himself, then looked at Jay and Tyler.

"No," Tyler groaned. "I feel like... like I've been sucked through a straw, then spat back through the skull."

"I know the feeling," Sheppard said. "It gets better. Tomorrow you'll feel like you'd have been interrogated."

Will glared at John, who smiled back humorlessly, mostly to show his teeth.

"Tyler," Jay crouched beside him and hugged him, oblivious now to everything else and, if John was not wrong, kissing Tyler's cheek and neck.

"Stop staring, Sheppard," muttered Will.

"Why? They're pretty."

Will rolled his eyes and John enjoyed his discomfort. It's best to savor your victories when you can.

* * *

"What now?" asked John.

Will fixed him with his impassive stare.

"I could use your ability to initialize Atlantean technology. I'm sure there are more systems to be discovered and fixed."

"On the other hand, you can't really trust me if you hold me against my will," said John lightly. "And you'd be making enemies out of my people."

"I don't trust you enough to take your offer for an alliance either, not yet."

"Once burned, shot and hunted, twice shy and all that," said John.

"But I'd rather leave enough room for an alliance than do something irreversible. So I think this is how it will go."

John listened and sighed.

* * *

"You know, on my planet blood donors get a free lunch, especially when you've been draining them like vampires."

"Like what?"

"Uh, like the Wraith, only they feed on blood."

Tyler shivered.

"You have that on your planet?"

"Ah, we used to. They're pretty much extinct now," John assured him, feeling only a little guilty.

"We could give you lunch," Jay said seriously. "What's your pick, green protein, red protein or orange protein?"

"At least it's not soylent," John mumbled. "Never mind," he added before Jay's questioning look could turn into an actual question and maybe prompt him to summarize Soylent Green for Jay. "I'll eat when I get home."

He'd have liked to sit with Jay and Tyler and tell them stories and explain bad movies and popcorn. He wasn't sure about Will, but maybe they'd have time to change their minds about each other.

Well, as soon as Will forgave him about that little thing he'd just borrowed. John fought to keep his grin under control. He couldn't wait to show off his new weapon to Ronon.


End file.
